Signals

Every Friday, The Future Laboratory team offers an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, senior foresight analyst Rose Coffey explores the emotional element of fashion, the Undropped Kit by Asics and sensorial sustainability.

: I have just returned from a week away in West Cork, which functioned as my very own digital detox destination. With signal hard to come by in the rural mountains, I had ample time to experience clothing through a purely material lens. My outfits kept me warm and dry in fluctuating weather conditions and I even wore pieces passed down from my grandmother – reinforcing the emotional weight of fashion.

My work is often centred around technological innovations in the field, but recently I have been thinking more about the core relationship between fashion and feeling – a theme we touched on in our Mood-matching Fashion report. This pause reminded me that as digital systems shape discovery, the tactile, emotional bond with clothing remains fashion’s most enduring elements.

: Elsewhere, research by Asics shows that the UK’s school PE kit plays a major role in teenage girls dropping out of sport. The company has collaborated with Inclusive Sportswear and Mind to create the Undropped Kit – a clothing concept designed to help them feel more comfortable, enjoy exercise and ultimately stay in sport. The kit was tested by secondary school students at Burnley High School – an area flagged by Sport England as having some of the UK’s lowest PE participation rates.

This initiative is a strong example of Collaboration Culture being used to foster connection and care. It highlights how sport is a community driver, not just a form of competition. As we noted in our Soft Sports report, brands are moving away from performance culture toward community, inclusivity and holistic wellbeing.

: Finally, I’ve been loving this Sensorial Sustainability report published in collaboration with Arbor Communications. It puts forward that in a post-verbal, post-greenwashing world, sustainability must be felt to be believed. This reframing pushes brands to move beyond messaging and metrics toward multisensory experiences that embed responsibility into touch, sound and atmosphere – turning sustainability from a claim into a lived encounter.